SS SAVANNAH  PLANS

Savannah was the first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean or Baltic Sea in either direction. The ship was the inspiration of veteran steamboat captain Moses Rogers. In 1809 Rogers commanded John Stevens's Phoenix on the Delaware River, and in 1818 he inaugurated the first steam service between Savannah and Charleston in Charleston. It took little to persuade the prosperous and civic-minded leaders of the Georgia port to finance what the London Times would call "the great experiment": the crossing of the Atlantic by a steam-powered vessel. Having secured capital of $50,000 for the project, Rogers proceeded to New York "to purchase a suitable ship of the first class, completely fitted and equipped in the ordinary manner—on board of which shall be placed a steam engine with the other necessary apparatus." He found this ship on the stocks at the yard of Samuel Fickett and William Crockett. The engine was developed and built under the supervision of Stephen Vail, of special note being the five-foot-diameter piston, the largest of its day.  On March 28, 1819, Savannah began her maiden voyage for her namesake port under Captain Rogers. With neither passengers nor cargo, and with a slow time of 9 days, 6 hours, it was an inauspicious beginning. A week later, Rogers took his ship from Savannah to Charleston with three passengers, and returned with seven. On May 11, the ship hosted President James Monroe, who toured the city's harbor defenses in the company of Secretary of War John C. Calhoun and raised the possibility of acquiring Savannah for use against Cuba-based pirates. (The steam vessel Sea Gull was acquired for the purpose in 1823.) Savannah was never a commercial success, though, and after failing to secure any business for New York, on May 22, 1819, she sailed for St. Petersburg, Russia, via Liverpool, again without freight or passengers. (The date is remembered in the United States as National Maritime Day.) Ireland was sighted on June 16, after 23 days, 4 hours, at sea, during which several vessels westbound saw Savannah steaming in midatlantic. As the ship approached the Irish coast with smoke pouring from her funnel, reports of a vessel on fire reached Queenstown and the revenue cutter Kite was dispatched to Savannah's rescue. Rogers took the opportunity to demonstrate the ability of steam-powered vessels to outmaneuver sailing vessels by steaming into the wind. The ship proceeded to Liverpool, where her arrival made quite an impression. Steam propulsion was by no means new, but its use on the high seas was. Moreover, the display of Yankee ingenuity gave a tremendous boost to the morale of American citizens and diplomats both in England and elsewhere in Europe. Savannah sailed for the Baltic on July 23, proceeding much of the way under steam alone, stopping at Helsingør in August for a week before sailing for Stockholm, where the ship was much admired; Charles XIV offered to purchase Savannah for $100,000 in hemp and iron. On September 5, Rogers and Savannah embarked the only paying passengers of their voyage, Sir Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, and his cousin Robert Graham Roger. Five days later they anchored at Kronstadt, the port of entry for St. Petersburg; Savannah's draft was too great to ascend the Neva River. As before, Rogers and his ship were well received, particularly by the American minister George M. Campbell, and there were three cruises for dignitaries on St. Petersburg Bay. Rogers had probably declined the Swedish king's offer of iron and hemp in anticipation of an even better one from the czar. But Alexander's suggestion that Rogers and Savannah remain in Russian waters with the exclusive right of steam navigation on the Baltic and Black Seas was more than Rogers could accept, and he decided to return to the United States. On October 14, Savannah steamed away from St. Petersburg, making Copenhagen in four days and stopping briefly in Arendal, Norway, her last port of call in Europe. There are conflicting claims by members of the crew as to whether Savannah got steam up on her return trip—some say steam was used on 19 days, and one source says not at all. On November 30, she was back at Savannah, but sailed again on December 3 for Washington, where Rogers hoped the government would purchase his ship. Despite public interest in the ship, the Navy had no need of her. That winter she was moored at the Washington Navy Yard when the French naval engineer Jean Baptiste Marestier studied the ship and engines. 
In the meantime, the Savannah Steam Ship Company was forced to dissolve, and in August 1820, Captain Nathan Holdridge of New York bought the ship at auction for an unknown amount. He removed the engines and used her as a packet between New York and Savannah, carrying 24 passengers and a full cargo on the first voyage. Savannah completed eight roundtrips in this trade, until November 5, 1821, when she ran aground on Fire Island opposite what is now Bellport, New York. There was no loss of life, but the ship was a total loss.  When larger vessels with more powerful engines—but still rigged as sailing ships—were built, Savannah's claim to being the first steamship to cross the Atlantic began to erode. This would surprise the ship's contemporaries on both sides of the Atlantic. Savannah was designed and intended for transatlantic service; it is only due to a reluctant public that she did not succeed, and it would be another nineteen years before Sirius and Great Western would herald the beginning of regular transatlantic steam service.
Model Length Overall 19in.  

1/96 SCALE 

BJK-4083

PRICE:  $ 17.50